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Yesterday I picked up my new X3. As expected, I am thrilled. Going through all the manuals etc. I came across a reference to the voice recognition system. The user manual refers to a separate manual for the voice recognition. I do not have that. I am certain that I will not have a problem obtaining it if I call in on Monday, but is it available anywhere on line? Is it difficult to setup?

Yesterday I picked up my new X3. As expected, I am thrilled. Going through all the manuals etc. I came across a reference to the voice recognition system. The user manual refers to a separate manual for the voice recognition. I do not have that. I am certain that I will not have a problem obtaining it if I call in on Monday, but is it available anywhere on line? Is it difficult to setup?

Normally, pressing and holding the "face" button on the steering wheel for a few seconds will trigger a beep. Then you can say "help" to get a list of commands.

I have the little talking face button on my steering wheel. I didn't realize that it was for voice recognition. I use it to access the bluetooth hands free option of my cell phone. I can't seem to get the voice recognition to work???

I have the talking head symbol on my steering wheel but it doesn't do anything when I hold it down. I was under the impression that voice recognition requires BMW assist, BMW car phone, Nav or all of above.

Can someone confirm what options you need to get before voice control will function>?

I have the talking head symbol on my steering wheel but it doesn't do anything when I hold it down. I was under the impression that voice recognition requires BMW assist, BMW car phone, Nav or all of above.

Can someone confirm what options you need to get before voice control will function>?

For cars that pre-date BMW Assist (approximately start-of-production of the 2004 model year), they either need the SES module (stand-alone voice recognition) or a Bluetooth ULF. I don't know the details of post-Assist cars, unfortunately. I've heard that there is limited voice functionality in the newer Assist+Bluetooth modules, but that is just an anecdote.

I have the talking head symbol on my steering wheel but it doesn't do anything when I hold it down. I was under the impression that voice recognition requires BMW assist, BMW car phone, Nav or all of above.

Can someone confirm what options you need to get before voice control will function>?

Well I have a 2005 with BMW assist, car phone, and navigation. It does not work. There is a separate voice recognition module available for the X5 that you would have to install. I don't know if that can be done. I assume it will probably connect to the system but then you "probably" have to ask a dealer to program the computer to recognize it. Anyone have any insight into this? I wouldn't mind paying a bit more to have my dealer install this for me as an accessory...

I have an '05 X3 with the works (navigation, bluetooth, etc.) and holding the face button down a period of time does nothing for me either. I read the pdf file above and it doesn't look like the vocie recog module does much in my opinion anyway.

I do not believe voice recognition is part of the Assist/BT module available begining witht the 2005 MY cars. It requires an additional module. In my case the voice recognition module was part of the post factory BT kit. Although I do not have NAV but I find voice recognition extremely useful.

You can use voice recognition to dial by name. There is no need to scroll through your phonebook. I also like the feature where I can call out the number to be dialed. This again keeps you focused on the road rather than looking at the MID searching for a phone number.

Seems a little expensive given the limited functionality the voice module provides (per the pdf file posted in an earlier thread). If you could enter NAV destinations via voice this would be much more useful, since I find entering the destination via the knob cumbersome (i.e. something you cannot really do while driving).

Quote:

Originally Posted by ffchun

Just curious if you have actually completed this installation with the NAV and the BT capabilities. No reprograming necessary, just plug and play ??

... I find entering the destination via the knob cumbersome (i.e. something you cannot really do while driving).

BMW should put a physical button that you can press to input a new destination. I hate having to navigate thru menus to get to the most commonly used function! Bad user interface design in my book.

Also, don't you find it annoying that the address book doesn't store street #s! I wish they had a real address book where you could enter the name of a person or business, phone #, address, etc... then click to dial the person or navigate to their location.

It would also be nice if you didn't see the entire country when entering an address. It's not like I get up and say I want to drive to Montana today and Florida tomorrow. They should limit the cities to those within 100 mile radius of where you are unless you choose otherwise.

I don't think there's an add-on module. Voice Recognition in the X3 works for the phone on, I think, post March 05 production cars. If you hold down the phone button on steering wheel and the dude says "Command Please" - you have Voice Recognition in you car.

I don't think there's an add-on module. Voice Recognition in the X3 works for the phone on, I think, post March 05 production cars. If you hold down the phone button on steering wheel and the dude says "Command Please" - you have Voice Recognition in you car.

X3Bruin is correct. The voice recognition features on the X3 have been discussed quite a bit in this forum and the Audio Upgrades forum.

The bottom line is that BMW introduced this in March 2005. If your X3 was built before March 2005, then you do not have voice recognition. Sorry.

Pre-March 2005:

Press "talking head" button on the steering wheel to access the phonebook transferred from the active bluetooth enabled phone

March 2005 and on:

Press "talking head" button on the steering wheel to access the phonebook transferred from the active bluetooth enabled phone.

Press and hold (I have not timed it, but it's a coupla seconds) "talking head" button on the steering wheel to access the voice recognition. You will hear a "beep" to tell you voice recognition is active. The commands in the PDF file attached to an earlier post in this thread are understood.

If you have a pre-March 2005 production X3 and you want voice recognition, then I think you have to swap out the TCU (Telematics Control Unit) for a later one. Assuming you ahve the Bluetooth option to begin with (which includes a Bluetooth antenna and wiring). Not sure what the good folks at your local dealer will charge to do that.

If you have a 2004 MY car, then it might be more problematic - not sure if you can just swap the TCU.

If you don't have Bluetooth at all, then you can retrofit the car with Bluetooth - again - not sure what that entails or how much it costs.

I got my X3 in Jan 05 and it did not function by pushing the little face button for the voice recognition. (It works fine w/ the BT phone, but not with the nav, etc.) I took it to the dealer a couple of months ago to see if it could work, and they took it on as a project and were able to get it working, but they wanted $900 for the little part and their labor. I declined.

The bottom line is that BMW introduced this in March 2005. If your X3 was built before March 2005, then you do not have voice recognition. Sorry.

Thanks Liverman, for the info. I have a few questions that maybe you can shed some light on?

I have a 2005 X3, built in February 05. (no nav, no premium).

Last week (December 16th) I paid to have my local dealer install the bluetooth option. I thought I would get voice recognition with this. In fact the dealer included the voice recognition manual as part of my paperwork upon leaving (maybe just to taunt me?). But alas, I do not have voice recognition.

So given what you wrote about production times, despite when the rest of he car was built, do you know if you get a TCU installed as part of a retrofit in December ‘05, should mean you should get voice recognition?

FWIW, the TCU part number the dealer installed in my car is 84-21-6-934-552. In my research, I've discovered this part is really old (in technology time), was the first generation BT TCU, and was EOL'ed in June of ‘03. BMW is now on the seventh generation TCU, part number 84-10-6-969-268. I question if this is why I don't have voice rec? (BTW, I found this info here: http://www.x5world.com/showarticle-171.html )